Christie Brinkley is opening up about her skin cancer diagnosis two months after she revealed she was diagnosed with the disease.
The model said Tuesday on TODAY that she learned she had skin cancer when she accompanied her daughter to the dermatologist.
“I was in the room, and he had this little magnifying glass out, and he’s looking at a couple of things that she was worried about,” Brinkley said. “I thought, ‘There is that little spot right on the side of my head right here. … Should I say anything? It’s not my appointment.’”
“Then right at the very end, as he was putting away his little thing, I said, ‘Before you put that away, do you think you could just look at this?’” Brinkley recalled asking the doctor. “He looked and he goes, ‘We’ve got to do a biopsy immediately. This is something.’ Then the biopsy came back (as) cancer.”
Brinkley underwent surgery to get the cancer removed from the side of her face.
“They took care of it, and luckily, my hair grows in that direction, but the scar is barely noticeable,” she said.
Brinkley revealed on March 13 that she was diagnosed with skin cancer when she shared some graphic images on Instagram of a gaping wound on her temple, which was stitched up and bandaged.
“The good news for me is we caught the basal cell Carcinoma early,” she wrote. “And I had great Doctors that removed the cancer and stitched me up to perfection like an haute couture Dior.”
“The good news for you is that all of this can be avoided by being diligent with your sun protection!” Brinkley added. “I got serious a bit late so now for this ole mermaid/gardener, I’ll be slathering on my SPF 30, reapplying as needed, wearing long sleeves and a wide brim hat. And doing regular total body check ups..that is a MUST !”
Brinkley concluded her post by thanking her doctors at New York’s Laser & Skin Surgery Center.
In the comments, her daughter Alexa Ray Joel wrote, “Love you Mom… 🕊️ let’s get Arnica Cream & Supplements, it’ll help your skin heal faster.”
According to the American Cancer Society, basal cell carcinoma is a type of skin cancer that begins in basal cells, found in the outer later of the skin. Typically basal cell carcinomas develop in parts of the skin often exposed to sunlight, especially the face. They tend to grow slowly and do not often spread to other parts of the body. Basal cell carcinomas look like a shiny bump the color of skin that may be translucent at the surface.
